image of person or book cover 2519148255935723253.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon By the River single work   novel   young adult  
Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 By the River
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Harry Hodby lives in a sleepy town on the bend of a sluggish river in Australia. Harry spends most of his time swimming in Pearce Swamp, eating watermelon with his brother and dad, escaping schoolyard bullies, being in love with the secretary, and racing through butterflies in Cowpers Paddock. But life in this small river town isn't always easy. Harry's mother died when he was seven, and his friend Linda was swept away in a flood. Harry yearns to leave town even though he knows that people who get away never come back. His father has told him how to get out of town, but there's a mystery that he needs to solve before he can go...'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Front Street ed.)

Exhibitions

23898196
24505000

Reading Australia

Reading Australia

This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.

Unit Suitable For

AC: Year 9 (NSW Stage 5)

Themes

bullying, coming of age, connection to place, death, family, grief, identity, love, small town living

General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Literacy

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Notes

  • Novel in verse form.
  • Dedication: Dedicated to my brothers: Denis, Ray, Les and in memory, Johnny.
  • Included on the United States Board on Books for Young People and the Children's Book Council (US) 2006 Outstanding International Booklist.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2004 .
      image of person or book cover 2519148255935723253.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 232p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 August 2004
      ISBN: 1741143578 (pbk.)
    • Asheville, North Carolina,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Front Street ,
      2006 .
      image of person or book cover 168530051930244969.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 238p.
      Edition info: 1st US ed.
      ISBN: 1932425721 (hbk)
Alternative title: Aan de rivier
Language: Dutch
    • Rotterdam,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Lemniscaat ,
      2007 .
      image of person or book cover 8788261964932056724.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 234p.p.
      ISBN: 9789056378981, 9056378988

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

[Essay] : By the River Felicity Plunkett , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;

'by the river evokes the textures of a small Australian town in 1962 through lean episodic poems that drift along gently until moments of intensity break their banks. Through a leisurely accumulation of detail – houses on stilts, fruit bats, a blotchy carpet of mango pulp, wisteria, cricket, bags of lollies – the town comes into focus, along with the lives of its people, especially protagonist Harry Hodby and his family.'

[Review] By the River 2006 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 20 no. 1 2006; (p. 54)

— Review of By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel
[Review] By the River Gabrielle Ritchie , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 19 no. 1 2005; (p. 26-27)

— Review of By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel
Life Is Elsewhere Mike Shuttleworth , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 270 2005; (p. 57-58)

— Review of The Running Man Michael Gerard Bauer , 2004 single work novel ; By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel ; Secret Scribbled Notebooks Joanne Horniman , 2004 single work novel ; So Yesterday Scott Westerfeld , 2004 single work novel
[Review] By the River Liz Derouet , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , November vol. 48 no. 4 2004; (p. 33)

— Review of By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel
Young Adults Dianne Dempsey , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 14 August 2004; (p. 6)

— Review of By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel
[Review] By the River Maureen Mann , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 19 no. 4 2004; (p. 40-41)

— Review of By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel
Pleasing Ring to Rhymes About the Past A. P. Riemer , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11-12 September 2004; (p. 13)

— Review of By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel
Shorts: Children's Books Christopher Bantick , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 18 September 2004; (p. 20)

— Review of The Mighty Bunyips Paul Harvey , 2004 single work picture book ; By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel ; Our School Fete Louise Pfanner , 2004 single work picture book ; Forest Sonya Hartnett , 2001 single work novel ; Lizzie Nonsense Jan Ormerod , 2004 single work picture book ; A Roomful of Magic John Marsden , 2004 single work children's fiction
Life Is Elsewhere Mike Shuttleworth , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 270 2005; (p. 57-58)

— Review of The Running Man Michael Gerard Bauer , 2004 single work novel ; By the River Steven Herrick , 2004 single work novel ; Secret Scribbled Notebooks Joanne Horniman , 2004 single work novel ; So Yesterday Scott Westerfeld , 2004 single work novel
By the River by Steven Herrick Bill Wootton , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Spring vol. 12 no. 3 2004; (p. 20)
[Essay] : By the River Felicity Plunkett , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;

'by the river evokes the textures of a small Australian town in 1962 through lean episodic poems that drift along gently until moments of intensity break their banks. Through a leisurely accumulation of detail – houses on stilts, fruit bats, a blotchy carpet of mango pulp, wisteria, cricket, bags of lollies – the town comes into focus, along with the lives of its people, especially protagonist Harry Hodby and his family.'

Last amended 14 Mar 2022 09:41:24
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